Ye Olde Bucket List: A Bit about Brussels

What is Brussels all about? Beer, they say. There are T-shirts, posters, cards all touting Belgium beer. I can hardly vouch for that since I do not like beer. Then there is chocolate. I have never seen so many chocolate stores. I tried some of it; the most distinctive one was cherry liqueur in dark, its stem sticking out and the pit still inside, much to my surprise. It was good but I am partial to German chocolate.

Belgium waffles are big, too. They are displayed in front of shops covered with a mound of real cream, sliced kiwi, strawberries, whatever fruit is available, drizzled or dipped in chocolate or loaded with all of the above. Of course I tried one, maybe two, can't remember how many, actually. There are even snack packs of chocolate covered waffles in snack machines. I was not even tempted.

Cartoons are big in Brussels. They like Tin Tin, whoever that is. Everyone I ask tells me so. Cartoons adorn the sides of buildings in the central districts. I tried to take myself on a guided tour following the little map at the bottom of each cartoon but kept getting lost. Then I realized that one map was upside down. The next day I was given an accurate version and spent the whole day looking for them. Graffiti is not as big in Brussels as some cities I visited but these cartoons make up for that lack.

Most popular is Manneken Pis, the official mascot of Brussels. He is said to be knighted and comes with all kinds of myth and lore. One story tells of how an outraged city demanded the return of their beloved mascot kidnapped by the army of Louis IV. The other story they might not let me tell in this blog so I won't. Manneken Pis has an official group that takes care of his wellbeing and rather extensive wardrobe. He isalmost always dressed, in the name of decency, I suppose, and is said to have close to a thousand outfits. The latest is a soccer uniform donated by the team from Barcelona and comes complete with a little soccer ball. He also comes well represented in many forms at every tourist venue. One can even buy their very own life-sized peeing boy to take home to the fountain but the truth is, Manneken Pis is very small, maybe not even three feet tall.

Manneken Pis

I took a walking tour around the historic district. We saw some incredible architecture that I will address after my final visit. The tour ended very near a beautiful glass and iron art nouveau building that now houses a museum of musical instruments. I couldn't resist. There are three floors of the most incredible array of musical instruments, some of them hundreds of years old. There were straight coronets like one sees in Biblical movies; fantastically twirled tubes of brass with fluted ends, some snake heads with open mouths, that ended up to be modern day brass, pianos and harpsichords that are painted, carved, even player pianos with cylinders, stringed instruments; sheep bladder and animal skin squeeze bags from the Baltics that are early versions of bagpipes, African drums, rattles and on and on. At the entrance I was given a sound device and headphones that would play music based on the display I stood before. I was not pleased when it started getting stuck and I couldn't get rid of the bagpipes. Either way, the experience was fantastic.